Dusky Emperor (Asterocampa idyja [Geyer])
Wing span: Not reported.
Identification: Upperside is brown; forewing is hooked. Male forewing with white spots near the tip, and usually a band of yellow spots across the center of the wing. Hindwing has 6 dark submarginal eyespots. Female spots are duller, more diffuse; forewing is broader and not as hooked as in the male. Both sexes have another form in which the colors are paler.
Life history: Males perch to await females.
Flight: October in Arizona.
Caterpillar hosts: Hackberry species (Celtis) in the elm family (Ulmaceae).
Adult food: Rotting fruit and occasionally flower nectar from Lantana, Ageratum, and Tournefortia.
Habitat: Woodlands and their edges.
Range: Cuba and the Isle of Pines, Mexico, Guatemala; rare on Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. A rare stray to southeastern Arizona.
